The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, in recognition of an architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences in historic Flanders and neighboring regions of the Duchy of Burgundy.
UNESCO inscribed 32 towers onto its list of Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia in 1999. In 2005, the belfry of Gembloux in the Walloon Region of Belgium and 23 belfries from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy regions in the northern tip of France were appended to the renamed list. One notable omission is the Brussels City Hall belfry, as it is already part of the Grand Place World Heritage Site.
However, despite this list being concerned with civic tower structures, additional six church towers were also made part of it under the pretext that they had served as watchtowers or alarm bell towers. These are the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, St. Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen, St. Peter's Church, Leuven, St. Germanus Church in Tienen, the Basilica of Our Lady in Tongeren and St. Leonard's Church in Zoutleeuw.
Most of the structures in this list are towers projecting from larger buildings. However, a few are notably standalone, of which, a handful are rebuilt towers formerly connected to adjacent buildings.
Belgium
ID numbers correspond to the order in the complete list ID 943/943bis from UNESCO, see External links.
Flanders
ID 943-021 | Sint-Truiden | City Hall with Tower |
ID 943-024 | Tongeren | Basilica of Our Lady with Stadstoren (City Tower) |
France
Belfry of
Lille city hall
- ↑ The belfry is known as Halletoren, because of an adjacent Cloth Hall that no longer exists; the tower is now free-standing.
- ↑ The belfry is known as Hallentoren or Tower of the Halls, plural: of the two adjacent wings or halls, only one remains, hence Cloth Hall, singular.
- ↑ The city centre's Landhuis (literally: 'country-house') was once the seat of the kasselrij or burggraafschap (viscounty) Veurne-Ambacht, serving the countryside; here as opposed to the adjacent Stadhuis (literally: 'city-house' though always meaning the City Hall) serving the city. The Landhuis later became the Court of Justice and recently a place for cultural purposes, e.g. exhibitions, dance acts, concerts, etc.
- ↑ The name Mammelokker (assumedly: 'Allurer of breasts') for the guard house at the part of the Cloth Hall that once served as a prison, refers to the story of a prisoner.
- ↑ Quote from external link Detailed argumentation for list ID 943/943bis, UNESCO Website: "The Hôtel de Ville in Antwerpen (1564) is an excellent example of the transposition of Renaissance principles in the central risalith with superposed diminishing registers flanked by obelisks and scrollwork and finished with a pediment, reiterating the theme of the central belfry." – Hôtel de Ville is French for 'City Hall', Antwerpen is the native name of 'Antwerp' in Dutch.
- ↑ UNESCO states, inappropriately in French: ID 943-016 Tour de Saint-Rombaut ; in native Dutch language this is Sint-Romboutstoren which is the main tower of the cathedral, once also used as a watchtower against fires.
- ↑ UNESCO states, inappropriately in French: ID 943-015 Ancienne Halle avec Beffroi ; in native Dutch language this is Oude [or: Voormalige] Halle met Belfort. This 14th-century Cloth Hall with never to its designed height built Belfry – both hardly ever used for the intended purposes – with more recent adjacent buildings, constitute the present-day City Hall.
- 1 2 UNESCO states: ID 943-040 Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville, ID 943-039 Beffroi de l'église Saint-Eloi – further reading from other source: (in French) Monuments in Dunkirk
External links
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1 Listing shared with six other countries, which includes Belgium's Maison Guiette; 2 Listing shared with France; 3 Listing shared with twelve other countries, which include's Belgium's Sonian Forest. |